Representatives from Logan Lake plan to have their concerns heard when they head to Vancouver next month for the annual Union of BC Municipalities conference.
Like Merritt, Logan Lake city council has requested meetings with Health Minister Terry Lake and Transportation Minister Todd Stone.
They also requested a meeting with Steve Thomson, the Minister of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations.
Logan Lake Mayor Robin Smith said council wants to discuss the community’s ongoing health issues with Lake.
“We’ve struggled to get a permanent, full-time physician for quite some time now,” Smith said.
The town of more than 2,000 people has been without a permanent physician since March 2014.
With Stone, Smith said council wants to discuss making improvements to Highway 97C between Logan Lake and Merritt — a road known for its curves and truck traffic.
“The road between here and Merritt has always been something that we’ve brought up for quite some time now,” Smith said.
She said that in the past the province has told them “the traffic patterns just don’t justify doing the scope of the work that that needs to be done out there,” but that topic will be on Logan Lake’s agenda nonetheless.
“It’s just a matter of a consistent message back to the ministry to say that we’d love to see some improvements on that highway,” said the mayor.
Smith said the road could use more pullouts and passing lanes, and there is a sharp corner on the that should be straightened out.
She thinks the current pullouts on that stretch of highway are not in the safest locations for drivers trying to re-enter the road.
She said she thinks that upgrades might not have been warranted in the past, but traffic has increased.
“I think there’s a lot more traffic on that highway than there ever was,” Smith said, noting many residents travel to Merritt to shop, and employees travelling to and from the Highland Valley Copper mine use the road a lot too.
Smith said council wants to discuss Logan Lake’s community forest license with Minister Thomson, particularly concerns surrounding the upcoming Timber Supply Review’s allowable annual cut (AAC). The AAC is expected to decrease due to the impact of the mountain pine beetle.
“Everybody knows with pressures on the land base and pressures on the fiber supply, particularly coming out of the mountain pine beetle impacts, that there will be pressures on fiber supply,” Thomson told the Herald back in April after meeting with logging stakeholders in Merritt.
The license allows a corporation to log for Logan Lake — the local taxpayers being the only shareholder — giving the town profits it can put towards community projects.
Logan Lake’s recently built water spray park was funded in part from logging funds.
Smith said council also sent in a request to speak with Premier Christy Clark about health care, but isn’t optimistic they will be one of the communities that is granted a meeting with her.
